Assistant Associate Review

Our role title upon starting the job is 'Assistant Associate'. Primarily, our role involves travelling out to client site a lot of the time and being hands on with the client. We work mainly on excel but also use other specific audit software. We try to gain an understanding of the client's business and transactions through discussion, sampling, testing and looking at what was done in prior years. The role also consists of managing your own admin tasks in the form of checking your schedule, communicating with your manager and also talking to your appraiser.

I think I have gained a lot of confidence since working for Deloitte, especially in a professional environment. I now feel comfortable talking to Financial Directors of some of the companies we audit and being able to ask questions about what it is they're doing and why. This is something I wouldn't have felt comfortable doing before as I lacked important industry knowledge. There's also ongoing e-learning as well as college throughout the year so you're constantly learning new things.

The team at Deloitte is quite young and everyone is really kind and friendly, this makes the work place really pleasant and bridges any concerns you might have about approaching your superior to ask questions. There is also a very social side to Deloitte as we always have events to attend as well as quarterly office drinks.

I feel really valued by Deloitte and I think this shows through client feedback, manager feedback and feedback from seniors on your job. Feedback is given verbally on an adhoc basis, but you can apply for feedback on the SAP portal. This is a really good way of seeing how valued you are by your seniors and seeing that the work you've done has made a difference.

In terms of the training and support you're offered I think the programme is really well structured. I think there needs to be more policies in place around how much revision you're allowed to do during work hours. As there was definitely some people who were allowed more time to revise during working hours as they were unassigned when others weren't and this seemed grossly unfair. Otherwise, managers are understanding of your needs to leave early to revise and will more than happily talk you through anything you struggle to understand.

We started going to college in London and I felt this created a bit of difficulty when trying to contact tutors and often when people emailed tutors they wouldn't get a response. But I was lucky enough to get extra tuition from BPP when I failed my exam. I saw a lovely tutor in the Bristol BPP and she was super helpful and spent more time than necessary to ensure I knew what I was doing. There was also some confusion around the statements we had to submit.

My employer was really supportive and often arranged discussions with the 2nd year apprenticeships to find out how we were doing on the course and to see if there was any more support needed.

Considering it was an apprentice wage I would say that the salary was very fair and allowed us to cover most costs comfortably. They offer a number of different loans which makes moving out comfortable for you. We were also entitled to claim expenses and this helped massively.

There were a number of different clubs and societies to get involved in if that interested you. I personally haven't joined any yet but I always took part in recruitment events when they were offered.

Yes

I would recommend Deloitte because it gives you a great insight into what working in the real world is like. It also helps you to transition really smoothly from college to working life.

I would say really research your motives for joining the company and have a clear idea of where you want to be within the next five years. Have questions and show a really keen interest in the company. But 4 years is a big commitment so make sure it's right for you.